LIKELY RESULTS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 77, 11 August 1942, Page 5

LIKELY RESULTS

CAUTIOUS COMMENT MAGNITUDE OF TASK STRESSED ONLY LIMITED NEWS AVAILABLE Sydney, Aug. 10. With only limited news available of the Allied combined operation against enemy-occupied Solomon Islands, Australian news commentators are cautious in assessing the likely results of the present offensive. The magnitude of the task ahead is generally stressed and there is an evident “wait and see” flavour about comments. General MacArthur’s headquarters contributes little to the news of operations, though it is confirmed that Allied land forces are playing their part in the attacks and Australian troops are engaged. American comment on the operations is widely featured. Washington officials say the offensive is likely at present to be limited to the Solomons area, but they do not deny the possibility that the Allies intend to retake Japa-nese-held posts one after another in the entire north of Australia. The capture of the Solomons, they say, would give the Allies an ideal springboard for an offensive which they admit is likely to prove a long and costly job. “ACTION A LIMITED ONE” There is no disposition yet in Australia to regard the attacks on Tulagi as preliminaries to the opening of a second front in the Pacific—though the eventual importance of the offensive is in no way discounted. “The action is a limited one,” says the “Daily Telegraph” in a leading article. “We must not over-estimate it as the beginning of a general offensive towards Tokio. When we will be able to start on that road must seem obscure to those who studied last week's revelations about the strength of aid coming to this theatre.” The -Sydney “Morning Herald” says that given a reasonable measure of success in the present operations Australia can look to a notable easing of the danger which lately has arisen in the New Guinea area. “These operations, however, have much more than a preventive purpose,” it continues. “They constitute the first Allied attempt to oust the Japanese from any of their conquered territory. Considered in conjunction with the simultaneous action against Kiska in the Aleutians they are a heartening indication of the increasing strength of the American naval and air forces in the Pacific relatively to Japan’s. But elation at the thought that the Allies have at last taken steps to turn back the Japanese tide of conquest should not blind Australians to the difficulties of the enterprise. Mention in communiques of opposition from enemy’s land-based aircraft is a reminder that the advantage the American forces possessed at Midway now lies with the Japanese.” Some observers suggest that the immediate objective of the Allied forces is Guadalcanar Island which the Japanese occupied in June with the evident intention of preparing air cover for another move out into the Pacific along the line of the New Hebrides and Fiji. WELCOME DEVELOPMENTS The Sydney “Morning Herald’s” military correspondent calls the Allied offensive “A most welcome development if only because when combined with the action of the task force against Kiska it points the way to a course of future action on a concerted plan.” He points out that to relieve the Japanese threat to Port Moresby any counter-at-tack had necessarily to start on the flank because of the difficulties of frontal action in New Guinea. Attacks on the Solomons will relieve the strain on Port Moresby and ultimately point the way to Rabaul. “But the negative forcing back of the enemy from the nearest points to Australia is not sufficient,” he declares. “The reoccupations can have meaning only if they are part of a wider and permanent scheme of counter-attack through the South-West Pacific zone.”—P.A. Special Australian Correspondent. GENUINE OFFENSIVE STROKE INITIATIVE WITH UNITED NATIONS (Rec. 12.55 p.m.) London, Aug. 10. British and American newspapers hail the Allied attack on the Solomons as the long-awaited turn from defensive to offensive strategy, but they comment with caution upon the probable outcome of the battle. The New York “Herald-Tribune” says: “Eight months of retreat, defeat and purely defensive strategy have been broken at last. As accumulating hints and bits of news indicate that what has opened in the Solomons is the first offensive effort of the United Nations in the Pacific, it is impossible to restrain a deep surge of enthusiasm and relief. What the battle has brought forth we cannot tell, but there is no longer doubt that the operation is a big one and a genuine offensive stroke. The fact that it could be made alone reveals how far the strategic pattern of the Pacific has been shifting. The simultaneous attack in the Solomons and the United States’ naval bombardment of Kiska combined in one plan show that our power in the Pacific is growing and making its effectiveness felt. The initiative is here in our hands. We are taking risks and forcing the pace as the Japanese so long have done. Once we bring our offensive power to bear, whatever the costs and setbacks, that spirit will not be relinquished and the course of the war will not again be the same ” PLANNED WELL AHEAD The London “Times” says: “The combined New Guinea, New Britain and

the Solomons attack bears all the marks of a deliberate offensive planned well ahead. It explains the comparative lull in this area which caused uneasiness in Australia last week. Previously the United Nations were on the defensive in that part of the world as elsewhere. Now there is an offensive designed to oust the enemy from the places which he occupied months ago and in which he has been consolidating himself ever since. The “Evening Standard” says the gravity of the situation in the Pacific has led to a change in Allied strategy. Australians and Americans are attacking and the attack has not come a minute too soon. The assault at least indicates that the Allies for the first time are prepared and able to take the initiative in the Pacific.” —P.A.

PLANES DIVERTED

AUSTRALIA FOREGOES NEW FIGHTERS Sydney, Aug. 10. Australia agreed to the diversion to other more urgent theatres of a new high-performance lighter aircraft which is capable of dealing with the latest Japanese Zeros. These aircraft were actually on their way to Australia when the Prime Minister Mr Curtin, believed that they might make a difference between saving and ■losing Egypt and consented to their diversion to the Middle East. Obviously labouring under a heavy strain for some time past, th e Prime Minister made a decision which is regarded as one of the most difficult of his career. Fighter aircraft to outclimb and out-manoeuvre the Japanese Zeros are a primary need in the south-west Pacific theatre of war, and the loss of planes seriously diminished the Allied striking power here and hampered operations designed to counter the continued enemy infiltration. Thought Mr Curtin has refused to comment on the diversion of these planes, it is known that he and his colleagues unreservedly accepted the view that, however necessary they were in this theatre, they must go to the front on which the need was even more urgent.—P.A. Special Aus tralian Correspondent.

IDEAL NAVAL BASE

VALUE OF TULAGI ENCLOSED BY ISLANDS As a potential site for a splendid naval base, the waters enclosed by the islands of the Solomons group may have been a powerful attraction to the Japanese, apart from the facility for the construction of airfields offered by several of the islands. Near Tulagi, which was the British administrative centre of the group, lying a little south of the geographical centre, are several other islets enclosing a sheet of water known as Port Jarvis; and this minor group is again sheltered by much larger islands. LORD JELLICOE IMPRESSED When thfe late Lord Jellicoe visited Tulagi he was deeply impressed with the possibilities of the adjacent waters as a naval base for the Pacific. He maintained that the whole of the British Navy could comfortably be accommodated there and that, in the event of war naval assistance would be available for the defence of both New Zealand and Australia, the distance being not more than 2000 miles from the coasts of either country. The location of Port Jarvis is not shown on most maps, but it can be visualised in relation to the major islands of the group. The group comprises 10 large islands and innumerable small ones of a land area of 14,600 square miles, running in a double row, 900 miles long, from north-west to south-east, and thus enclosing what is virtually a huge lake. TULAGI IN CENTRAL SEA From west to east, the major islands of the northerly row are Bougainville, Choiseul, Ysabel, Malaita, Ulawa; and in the southerly row Shortland, Vella Lavella, Kolombangara, New Georgia, Vanguna, Russell, Guadalcanar and San Cristoval (Makira). In the centre of the sea enclosed by Ysabel, Malaita and Guadalcanar lies the island of Florida. Separated from Florida by an extremely narrow chanel on its south coast is the tiny island of Tulagi, only three miles in circumference. It has achieved importance solely by its possession of a deep-water harbour with a good anchorage. Tulagi, lying under the mass of Florida to the north, is also sheltered to the south by the minor islands of Makambo, a few chains away, and Gavutu, at a distance of three miles. Thus the favourable situation of Port Jarvis is formed within a cluster of islets. LAND FOR AIR BASE Access from the west and south is open, but to the east there is only a narrow passage, 10 miles in length, known as Boli Pass, at the seaward or eastern end of which is a large expanse of flat land, a portion of Florida, where the Melanesian Mission has a large establishment. This site was considered by Lord Jellicoe to be admirable for an air base. The Japanese were recently reported to be energetically constructing runways on Guadalcanar, not far to the south. The town of Tulagi is very "small. It has the Administration headquarters, one European hotel and one European store owned by Morris, Hedstrom, Burns, Phi Ip have a store on Makambo, and Lever Brothers one on Gavutu. The presence of Japanese traders has certainly ensured their Government being well informed of the value of the